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Mathematics, from the Greek: μαθηματικά or mathēmatiká, is the study of quantities (numbers) and their operations, interrelations, combinations and abstractions; and of space configurations and their structure, measurement, transformations, and generalizations. Mathematics evolved through the use of abstraction and logical reasoning, from counting, calculation, measurement, and the systematic study of positions, shapes and motions of physical objects. Mathematicians explore such concepts, aiming to formulate new conjectures and establish their truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions.

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Problem II.8 in the Arithmetica by Diophantus, annotated with Fermat's comment, which became Fermat's Last Theorem

Fermat's Last Theorem is one of the most famous theorems in the history of mathematics. It states that:

a n + b n = c n

has no solutions in non-zero integers

a

b

, and

c

when

n

is an integer greater than 2

Despite how closely the problem is related to the Pythagorean theorem, which has infinite solutions and hundreds of proofs, Fermat's subtle variation is much more difficult to prove. Still, the problem itself is easily understood even by schoolchildren, making it all the more frustrating and generating perhaps more incorrect proofs than any other problem in the history of mathematics.

The 17th-century mathematician Pierre de Fermat wrote in 1637 in his copy of Bachet's translation of the famous Arithmetica of Diophantus: "I have a truly marvelous proof of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain." However, no correct proof was found for 357 years, until it was finally proven using very deep methods by Andrew Wiles in 1995 (after a failed attempt a year before).

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Credit: Protious

Conway's Game of Life , is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. The "game" is a zero-player game, meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring no further input from humans. One interacts with the Game of Life by creating an initial configuration and observing how it evolves. From a very simple set of rules extremely complex patterns can emerge. Above is an example of a breeder, which creates guns, which in turn create gliders.

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Did you know...

...that the primality of a number can be determined using only a single division using Wilson's Theorem?
...that the line separating the numerator and denominator of a fraction is called a solidus if written as a diagonal line or a vinculum if written as a horizontal line?
...that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type the complete works of William Shakespeare?
... that there are 115,200 solutions to the ménage problem of permuting six couples at a twelve-person table so that men and women alternate and are seated away from their partners?
... that mathematician Paul Erdős called the Hadwiger conjecture, a still-open generalization of the four-color problem, "one of the deepest unsolved problems in graph theory"?
...that the six permutations of the vector (1,2,3) form a hexagon in 3d space, the 24 permutations of (1,2,3,4) form a truncated octahedron in four dimensions, and both are examples of permutohedra?
...that Ostomachion is a mathematical treatise attributed to Archimedes on a 14-piece tiling puzzle similar to tangram?
...that outstanding mathematician Grigori Perelman was offered a Fields Medal in 2006, in part for his proof of the Poincaré conjecture, which he declined?
...that a regular heptagon is the regular polygon with the fewest number of sides which is not constructible with a compass and straightedge?

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